In Response to David Cronenberg

In Response to David Cronenberg

Editorial Opinion
By Geektality - Jan 03, 2013 03:01 PM EST
Filed Under: Fan Fic





In August of 2012, David Cronenberg sat down for an interview with Brooke Tarnoff, a journalist at NextMovie.com. In the now infamous interview, Cronenberg stated his distaste for comic book movies, especially the ones by director Christopher Nolan. The interview is available for reading here on CBM.com, but earlier this week he felt the need to clarify his comments claiming that Brook Tarnoff (Whom he referred to as "the journalist woman) misquoted him and did not publish her own questions in the interview, which is false. A keen eye can hop over to NextMovie.com and read the questions right now. Furthermore, he claims that SHE was the one who brought up Christopher Nolan and Batman in the interview, which she did not do. HE was the one who came out and verbalized HIS distaste for Mr. Nolan and his movies. However, he has offered a clarification that he does not discriminate. He hates ALL comic book films saying,

"What I was saying was that a comic book movie is really a comic book movie. Comic books were -- especially those comic books which I was raised on (I loved Captain Marvel) -- created for adolescents and they have a core that is adolescent.To me, that limits the discourse of your movie if you're basing it accurately on that, and you cannot rise to the highest level of cinematic art. That's my take on it. I went on to say that, of course, technically they can be incredibly interesting, since there are very clever people making the movie and of course have a lot of money they are throwing at it. But creatively, artistically, they are incredibly limited. It got bent out of shape that I was dissing Christopher Nolan, which just wasn't the case."

No, you were dissing:
Tim Burton
Richard Donner
Joel Schumacher(We'll allow it)
Bryan Singer
Sam Raimi
Mathew Vaughn
Brad Bird
Jon Favreau
Kenneth Branaugh
Joe Johnston (I'll allow it)
Louis Leterrier
Joss Whedon
Shane Black
Martin Cambell
Zack Snyder
AND Christopher Nolan.

Much better. Why diss one director when you can diss, oh, about a dozen directors!! What's next? Is he going to come out and say that he hates anybody who has ever worked in escapist fiction? He has literally stated that he thinks that comic books are juvenile and childish and that anybody who watches and enjoys them is juvenile and childish. Wow. Did I mention that David Cronenberg directed A History of Violence, a critically-acclaimed movie that is, guess what, based on a comic book? No? BECAUSE I DON'T NEED TO!!! If you are reading this article, you are a comic book fan, or at least a comic book movie fan. Comic books are not juvenile. Just take a look at this photo advertising Scott Snyder's run on Batman and tell me if it is juvenile or childish:


Kid's stuff!!
Why would he say these things? Why would he slander the poor "journalist woman"? Why would he trash comic books and every director of comic book movies? Is he bitter? Maybe he likes the taste of his own toes, I don't know.
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Tainted87
Tainted87 - 1/3/2013, 4:35 PM
Your article has contributed nothing and I've wasted my time reading it, searching for a point.
BarnaclePete
BarnaclePete - 1/3/2013, 5:01 PM
Who cares?
Spideyguy94
Spideyguy94 - 1/3/2013, 5:54 PM
@Soto they didn't just get whedon on because he has nerd cred. He was a good choice from the start for the fact that he is great with ensemble casts, much like why Bryan singer was chose for x-men
Spideyguy94
Spideyguy94 - 1/3/2013, 8:50 PM
@Soto I agree that marvel probably did hire him with geek cred in mind, but I don't think that was the main reason. I do agree with the cheap thing as well, I think that's one of the reasons nolan got the directors chair for begins, while he made 3 highly regarded movies before begins they didn't really make much money and no one had really heard of them. It wasn't really till inception you started seeing nolans name all over the posters and trailers.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 1/4/2013, 5:16 AM
From what I see here, he isn't really dissing any of the people that work on these movies. He's dissing the genre itself because he feels that if you're going by the source material, then you are limited to what can or can't be done.

He states that comics are written for adolescence. Well, in his time they were. There is no question about that. He probably doesn't keep track with comics now and does not realize the things that have been done. (We have Watchmen to thank for opening the door to adult comics.)

He said this:
"I went on to say that, of course, technically they can be incredibly interesting, since there are very clever people making the movie"

He wasn't dissing the people making the movie. He was dissing the genre itself. He basically said that the genre is doing so well BECAUSE of these directors and writers and crews.

There's nothing wrong with him not liking the genre. He's free to dislike anything he wants, just like any of us.
AC1
AC1 - 1/4/2013, 6:19 AM
@Soto I agree with most of what you're saying, but really, films like Evil Dead, The Terminator, The Matrix, Back To The Future, even perhaps Looper, are 'pure escapism fun' like most CBMs, and not proper cinematic art. What I will say, though, is that the lines between 'art' and 'escapism' are blurring somewhat, and I believe CBMs do have the potential to be artistic, even if it hasn't really happened yet. It's true of all things that are capable of being adapted to film (Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho [I know you didn't list Psycho but it counts], and Ben-Hur are all adapted from novels, while Memento was adapted from a short story, and Chris Nolan's Insomnia was a remake).
Spideyguy94
Spideyguy94 - 1/4/2013, 8:56 AM
@Soto I agree, comic book movies are not high art and they shouldn't try to be either, last time we got that was ang lee's hulk. Movies that i consider to be high art are movies like fight club, casino, pulp fiction, the godfather 1&2, once upon a time in america and 2001 are movies that in my opinion have got great everything from story, characters, film making, editing and they also have a lot going on beneath the surface of what is on screen.
Luminus
Luminus - 1/4/2013, 10:51 AM
Cinematic art is a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. So any mainstream Hollywood film is NOT cinematic art, which would include some of Cronenberg's films. This is the guy who directed The Fly, for Zeus' sake.

So, no, TDKR is not cinematic art. But so what? It's highly entertaining, and that's why normal human beings go to the movies.
Parker2017
Parker2017 - 1/4/2013, 11:52 AM
@ACira, I agree with you 10000000000000%.


@Luminus I was going to say that. yes they are entertaining escapist films, the fly is a anti-counter comic book villain story.


but art films are well mixed. Go to a film fest, you'll likely to see a fewcineima art hosue films, and they are always been mix to me personally, most of them i don;t get cuase its jsut color. no plot, or anything, and boom its cenimatic art.
tonytony
tonytony - 1/4/2013, 3:10 PM
I think he is annoyed at the commercial and critical success of the batman films. Nolan should be applauded for giving credibility to the genre with movies so good that its made David Cronenberg jealous and uncomfortable to the point where he has made those comments.
But if you look at Marvel and disney in particular you must say he has a point.
Spideyguy94
Spideyguy94 - 1/5/2013, 8:35 AM
@Batllin I agree with everything you just said. I would buy you a beer if I ever met you.
Geektality
Geektality - 1/5/2013, 8:50 AM
BattlinMurdock
I'll initiate the slow clap for you!!


*clap*
Luminus
Luminus - 1/5/2013, 11:21 AM
@BattlinMurdock: I didn't say only independent films can be considered cinematic art. I just gave you the definition. I should have put the word "typically" to make it clearer. Other than that, I agree with everything you've said. Well said.
tonytony
tonytony - 1/6/2013, 11:20 AM
Nolans batman films are actually less fantasy than movies like "the fly". All are good movies but to dismiss something as low brow simply because it comes from a graphic novel is wrong (a history of violence, directed by david cronenberg is also a graphic novel). I think he should look at the interpretation of the director rather than the source material before telling me if its art or not. For example Nolans batman films are a world away from the batman and robin nonsense. He should focus on the film before deciding what is artistic and what isnt.
Geektality
Geektality - 1/9/2013, 2:43 PM
@tonytony
Exactly. Can action films be artistic? Yes, as proven by Skyfall. Does that mean that all action films are artistic? No.
CAN CBMs be artistic? Yes. ARE all CBMs artistic? No.
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